Futility: Novel

by William Gerhardie

Overview

Futility is an astounding, funny, and enchanting novel which mixes eccentric Russian sensibilities with eccentric British brains, both richly possessed by its author William Gerhardie (1895-1977). The novel’s narrator, Andrei Andreiech, an Englishman of Russian upbringing, recounts his entanglements with the Bursanov family and his love for Nina, the second of three beautiful sisters. The Revolution destroys the family fortunes, but Nina’s father still pins his hopes on his Northern goldmines, gathering dependents who trail him even to Siberia. Andrei also waits, hoping his love for Nina will bring happiness. It is Gerhardie’s vivacity and lightness of tone in conducting these meaningful yet ludicrous tragedies of disappointment that marks Futility as one of the great neglected novels of the twentieth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780811211765
Publisher:	New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publication date:	09/17/1991
Series:	New Directions Classics Series , #718
Pages:	194
Sales rank:	792,174
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

WILLIAM GERHARDIE (1895–1977) was born “Gerhardi” in St. Petersburg, Russia, the son of British parents—he added the final “e” late in life. At the outbreak of World War I Gerhardie joined the army where his language skills led to assignment at the British Mission in Siberia. There he worked in a propaganda campaign aimed at disrupting the Bolshevik take-over of the country after the Russian Revolution (which had ruined his family and forced them to flee the country). Gerhardie’s work earned him the Order of the British Empire at age 24. Upon his return to England, he enrolled at Oxford and soon produced his first novel, Futility, based on his recent experience in Russia. The book won praise from Evelyn Waugh, H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Edith Wharton, Graham Greene and others—but did not sell well. While still at school he wrote the first critical appreciation of Chekhov to appear in English, still cited by scholars as one of the most perceptive. Several critically celebrated novels followed, including The Polyglots, Doom, and Pending Heaven, and he became the toast of literary London. The press magnate Lord Beaverbrook doted on Gerhardie and tried, unsuccessfully, to increase Gerhardie’s sales by serializing his books in his newspapers. In 1939, Gerhardie stopped publishing, although for the rest of his life he told friends he was working on a four-volume novel called The Present Breath. Gradually falling into poverty, he rarely left his London apartment, and when he died there in 1977, no trace of The Present Breath was found.

What People are Saying About This

Evelyn Waugh

I have talent, but he has genius.

H. G. Wells

Why was there no shouting about Gerhardie's Futility—shouting to reach the suburbs and the country towns. True, devastating. A wonderful book.

Graham Greene

To those of my generation he was the most important new novelist to appear in our young life. We were proud of his early and immediate success, like men who have spotted the right horse.

Katherine Mansfield

It is a living book.... it is warm. One can put it down and it goes on breathing.

Editorial Reviews

Gerhardie is bot a great comic writer and a great case study...there is a vein of guileless eccentricity and ruthless, dark humour which brings him very close to home...
—Times Literary Supplement

William Boyd

Its overall tone is distinctly Chekhovian, a mixture of comedy and pathos, suffused with low-key irony.
—Michael Dirda

The Washington Post

"To those of my generation he was the most important new novelist to appear in our young life. We were proud of his early and immediate success, like men who have spotted the right horse." — Graham Greene

"I have talent, but he has genius." —- Evelyn Waugh

"[Futility] is a living book....it is warm. One can put it down and it goes on breathing." — Katherine Mansfield

"Why was there no shouting about Gerhardie's Futility—shouting to reach the suburbs and the country towns? True, devastating. A wonderful book." — H.G. Wells

"Mr. Gerhardie's novel is extremely modern; but it has bulk and form, a recognisable orbit, and that promise of more to come that one always feels latent in the beginnings of the born novelist" — Edith Wharton

'William Gerhardie is our Gogol's Overcoat. We all came out of him.' — Olivia Manning
'In my opinion Gerhardie has genius.' — Arnold Bennett

'He is a comic writer of genius ... but his art is profoundly serious.' — C. P. Snow

From the Publisher